Vin Diesel's Riddick ushers in the fall season with an $18.7 million debut, while Disney’s Planes, the final animated entry of the summer, continues to perform.
Ushering in the fall season, Vin Diesel's Riddick topped the domestic box office, grossing a solid $18.7 million. The action film was on track to open upwards of $20 million, while the first film in the series, Pitch Black, opened to $11.6 million in February 2000, and The Chronicles of Riddick brought in $24.3 million in its debut.
Diesel now owns the rights to the Riddick character, an intergalactic ex-con who can see in the dark. Riddick was independently financed for $38 million, with Universal picking up U.S. distribution rights. The studio also released the first two films in the franchise. Coinciding with its domestic debut, Riddick rolled in to 31 foreign markets this weekend, earning an additional $7.4 million.
Lee Daniels' The Butler continued to do strong business in its fourth week out, coming in second place and grossing $8.9 million. The historical drama, released by The Weinstein Co. and starring Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey, has now earned $91.9 million in North America.
In third place, Spanish-language film Instructions Not Included grossed $8.1 million as it expanded into more than 700 theaters. From Pantelion and Lionsgate, the comedy has now earned a strong $20.3 million.
New Line's R-rated comedy We're the Millers continued to perform, coming in fourth with $7.9 million for a domestic total to $123.8 million.
Once again rounding out the top five, Disney’s Planes added $4.3 million for a new total of $79.3 million. The animated feature has been s a solid performer for Disney, which made the decision to schedule the Planes spinoff as the last family movie of the summer.
Sony/TriStar’s new 3D concert film, One Direction: This is Us, shot with Sony’s newly-launched F55 4K camera on a modest $10 million budget, came in sixth place, earning $4.1 million in its second weekend out. The film has now made a total of $23.9 million at the domestic box office, while overseas it has grossed $26 million, more than Justin Bieber: Never Say Never made in its entire run.
Sony’s Elysium added $3.1 million this weekend, coming in seventh place and bringing the Neil Blomkamp -directed sci-fi feature’s domestic total to $85 million. Overseas, Elysium continued to lead the way, bringing in $21.2 million for an international total of $127.1 million.
Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine came in ninth place, earning distributor Sony an additional $2.8 million for a domestic total of $25.4 million.
Edgar Wright's sci-fi action-comedy The World's End, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, rounded up the top ten, bringing in $2.3 million for Focus Features for a new domestic total of $21.7 million.
Box office numbers were obtained on boxofficemojo.com.
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
